Compressing textures to save space?

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maximdymok

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Aug 20, 2010
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[solved] Compressing textures to save space?

Hey people. This will probably sound funny, but on my gaming (sorta) computer I only have 3.7 GB of space left. On my netbook, which can't run UT2004 at all, I still have a lot. So I wanted to play UT2004 on the gaming machine, but I don't have enough space to install it! 16Gb is taken up by Vista, so only 3.7 is left of my funny 20 GB SSD. I plan on getting a bigger HDD later, but i wanna play the game now. SO, LETS GET TO THE POINT:
I see that there's a UT2004 server version availaible, which is only what, 2.5 GB? So I looked into that, but it seems I can't play Single Player with it. The thing is, though, that the textures in the server version only take up 50MB, vs. the 2.something GB, if I'm right, in the retail version. The question is, is there any way to compress the textures in the retail version a little bit so the game can fit on my gaming PC? Just a bit. I tried UZ2 files, but then UT can't open the textures. Anyone have any idea on how to do this? Thanks.
 
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Hermskii

www.Hermskii.com
Apr 13, 2003
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I think it is a fair question and I'm sure others have suffered the having a too small of a HDD to install another game. Sadly, I don't think there is a way to do this the way you are thinking. That said, I'd turn off your hibernation feature in your PC power settings, delete all temp files from the internet and then set your PC not to automatically create restore points or reduce the amount of disk space for restore points down to about 25% of whatever it is now. After all of that, you should have enough space to install UT2004 and everyone can live happily ever after. Enjoy!
 

maximdymok

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Aug 20, 2010
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Well I already did all that, and even removed some windows features :(
I wonder how they did it on the server version.... maybe i can somehow reduce the texture resolution using some photo editing program like photoshop?
 
Mar 19, 2002
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maybe you can install the standard version (or whatever) and then delete all the maps you wouldn't play.
Not sure how much space you would save, as most of the space is taken up by related files, IIRC.

edit
then again, if you don't have the space to begin with it wouldn't install.
 
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maximdymok

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Aug 20, 2010
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I didn't had Vista installed on my PC, ever, but... 16GB just for the OS? That's madness!
Windows 7 is the same thing.. About deleting the maps, yes i could possibly delete them on the netbook and then transfer them to the "gaming" pc but they still don't free up enough space. Also, I looked online and it seems you can compress textures using something like DXT5 or DXT3 in UnrealEd or something, but that only compresses them when they are loaded into memory, right?
 

GreatEmerald

Khnumhotep
Jan 20, 2008
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No, that compresses them on the disk, it would make zero sense to compress something in memory because it can only hold uncompressed data to begin with.
Of course, doing that will remove your online compatibility. You might want to track down the packages that the deleted maps used that are not used by anything else instead.
 

maximdymok

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Aug 20, 2010
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No, that compresses them on the disk, it would make zero sense to compress something in memory because it can only hold uncompressed data to begin with.
Of course, doing that will remove your online compatibility. You might want to track down the packages that the deleted maps used that are not used by anything else instead.

Well I don't care about online gaming since my internet is slow and I'm a noob (can hardly play on skilled :( ) You say the DXT thing actually compresses them on disk. Well I tried going into UnrealEd and loading several texture files, then clicking tools>compress>DXT1 and i tried it with DXT3 and DXT5 too but nothing happens - it doesn't say its compressing or anything, and if I save the file it comes out to be the exact same size as the starting filesize. Also, I'm pretty sure that most of the textures are shared, and those that are not probably still wouldn't make enough space AND it would be lame to have to download them every time I want to play the map. So can someone help with the UnrealEd, cause as I understand it can do the trick? Thx.


EDIT: Discovered another way, but I don't know for sure if it works. So basically I right-click the UT2004 folder and go to properties and then advanced. Check the Compress Folder Contents To Save Space thingy and let it compress everything - and it becomes 4.1 GB instead of 5.15 - but that's size on disk, not actual size. I looked at my computer, and instead of 64 gb only like 62 is used. So that means, even though its size on disk and not size, that it still works? Sadly, its not enough to put it onto the gaming PC but it could be if i somehow compress the tex's more with UnrealEd so any proof that the above method works and maybe a way to do it with UnrealEd? thanks
 
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GreatEmerald

Khnumhotep
Jan 20, 2008
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You can only compress textures that are saved in ARGB format, that is, are not DXT already. And since most textures are DXT (there is really no point in including ARGB textures since they just hog disk space), you will probably not get much out of it...

Yes, Size means the 'netto' size - basically what you would need to upload if you were to send the folder through the internet; Size on Disk means the amount of space it takes on the disk, taking compression and wasted space into account, that's why uncompressed files will always have larger Size on Disk than Size, and compressed files will nearly always have smaller Size on Disk than Size. The downside of compressing this is that it will be slower, but if you have an SSD, it probably doesn't matter anyway. You can also right-click on the whole disk and choose to compress it (note that you can't compress the Page File).
 

Arnox

UT99/2004 Mod Crazy
Mar 26, 2009
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Why don't you just burn all your maps and their needed files onto DVD's and save space that way?

And not to be an accusing prat here but why the heck are you using a 20 GB SSD for the game? That's way too small.
 
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maximdymok

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Aug 20, 2010
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Why don't you just burn all your maps and their needed files onto DVD's and save space that way?

And not to be an accusing prat here but why the heck are you using a 20 GB SSD for the game? That's way too small.
Hey thats a good idea! How haven't i though of that!? I think I have a few DVDs I can overwrite. Thanks!